Implications of Rural Environmental Variables Associated with the Participation of Children in Farming Activities: A Lesson from Rural Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the participation of rural children in farming activities and selected social, school, and physical environment related variables. Data were collected from four hundred and fifty eight children selected through stage-wise random sampling procedure from the four agricultural zones in Oyo state of Southwestern Nigeria. Results of the analyses showed that rural children's participation in farming could be rated as moderate whereas the existing social and school environmental variables were ranked as highly supportive to the participation of rural children in farming. Result of Chi square (χ2) analysis used to investigate the existence of association between the variables shows that a significant association existed between the participation of rural children in farming activities and school system support values (χ2 = 60.796); community social values (χ2 = 22.25); vegetation (χ2 = 76.133); closeness to river (χ2 = 39.64); topography of farmland (χ2 = 66.102), and status of roads leading to farm (χ2 = 73.086) at p ≤ 0.01 level of significance. It was concluded that children did participate in farming while empirical evidence revealed that physical and social environmental variables influence their participation. The implication was that rural environmental variables should be given due consideration whenever the participation of children in farming is being considered either as a socialization process or otherwise.